PHILADELPHIA -- The girls Championship of America 4x800-meter relay on Friday at the Penn Relays was filled with all sorts of spills and thrills as runners crashed to the track in a race that turned out to be a battle of survival.
In a race billed as a showdown between Jamaican powers Edwin Allen and Holmwood Tech, the hyped up matchup fizzled when Holmwood Tech's leadoff runner set of a chain reaction when she crashed to the track on the second lap. Several runners got caught up in the traffic and stumbled there way around the fallen runner, and another runner, Kelsey Niglio, got tripped and joined the wreckage when she went tumbling to the Franklin Field track.
While Niglio was able to get up and continue running, the pileup knocked Holmwood Tech out of the race. Holmwood Tech ran 8:46.96 earlier this season, the fastest of any team in the race.
It seemed like Edwin Allen, who won this race in 2019, would have no one to push them after that, but Union Catholic (NJ) made a huge push when Kaleigh Gunsiorowski ran a 2:16.31 and closed the gap to just 15 meters.
But then disaster struck again when Union Catholic's Jenna Keith collapsed to the track just 20 meters before the line. Edwin Allen then opened an insurmountable lead on the way to victory in 8:54.58 as Jessica McLean finished it off with a 2:12.62 anchor carry.
Rickeisha Simms, Leanna Lewis, and Rushana Dwyer ran the first three legs for Edwin Allen, which won it's seventh C of A 4x800 title. Dwyer and McLean ran on Edwin Allen's 2019 C of A winning team.
Cuthbertson of North Carolina took advantage of UC's misfortune by taking over second-place and held it the rest of the way to finish as the top American team, running 9:04.67. Union Catholic placed third in 9:06.14. Cherokee was fourth in 9:17.77.
Union Catholic, which ran 8:53.69 when it finished second in the 4x800 at the New Balance Indoor Nationals, felt it had the potential to challenge Edwin Allen.
"We are disappointed that things didn't go our way today,'' said UC sophomore anchor Peyton Hollis, who ran 2:08.92, the fastest split of the race. "Things happen in races and you just have to put it behind you and work hard to come back even better the next time. We gave it all we had, and that all you can do.''
Niglio was all banged from the fall. Her shoulders were all scraped up and bleeding.
"It's burning pretty bad right now,'' said Niglio. "I tried to avoid falling, but she went down right in front if me.''
Cherokee anchor Nicole Clifford praised the way her team ran.
"With everything that went on, it's an honor to finish fourth,'' said Clifford.. "It's awesome. Even just to get to this race was huge. To perform the way we all did, and with that happening, most teams ... that takes them out. That happens to a teammate, and everybody kind of loses their fire, but everybody here stuck with it, so I'm really proud of everyone."